Monthly Archives: August 2011
Tarell Alvin McCraney Comes Home — For A While
Tarell Alvin McCraney escaped a nightmarish childhood in Liberty City to become one of the most acclaimed young playwrights in the world. He’s returned home to direct The Brothers Size, the first time a professional South Florida company has produced one of his full-length works.
Only Aspirations Soar in Andrews’ Angels In America
The Andrews Living Arts Studio deserves credit for attempting the epic masterpiece Angels In America, Part 1: Millenium Approaches. Unfortunately, the laudable desire to conquer mountains doesn’t protect you from falling into crevasses. While the production is barely mediocre with flashes of competency, somehow the poetry, the resonances, the genius of Tony Kushner’s script came through more clearly than in any of four earlier productions I’ve seen.
Color Blind Casting Doesn’t Hamper the New Theatre’s Uneven Henry V
Sipiwe Moyo is a skilled enough actress that being an African American woman became nearly irrelevant to her playing the title role in New Theatre’s production of Henry V. Despite a long list of carps and criticisms, this is a mildly imaginative production that has elements worth seeing, But the entire production, was lacked the rousing charismatic magic essential to drive this narrative.
Six Years at the Caldwell: Solid Performances, Flawed Script
Six Years at the Caldwell Theatre works quite well moment-to-moment, but overall it feels amorphous and, ultimately, not satisfying. It lives in that purgatory where a show has much to recommend it – you can easily list shining moments — but it doesn’t coalesce enough to be compelling.
Color-blind casting: New Theatre’s Henry V a sign of evolving norms
A black woman playing Henry V at New Theatre this weekend is a sign of evolving norms in South Florida theater as color-blind and gender neutral casting become more common. It’s partly an inescapable by-product of a multi-ethnic acting pool and audience demographics in a region where interracial families and diverse workforces are too common to even be noticed.
Song of the Living Dead at the Promethean Theatre Company is a Gravely Funny Musical
Audience members who aren’t put off by foul language, frequent blood spatters, gross-out moments such as eating dead bodies, extreme irreverence in the religious sense, sophomoric humor, cheesy lyrics married to peppy showtunes are certain to come out of The Promethean Theatre’s Song of the Living Dead satiated with two hours of dumb mindless fun.
Mad Cat’s “so my grandmother” is an Unruly Helluva Hoot
so my grandmother is a return to Mad Cat’s idiosyncratic fantasias such as Shepherd’s Pie and Helluva Halloween. Like them, it’s messy, undisciplined, even self-indulgent in its determination to break the rules. But it’s also a gold-plated hoot watching talented professionals smashing down traditional preconceptions of theater.
Welcome to the Theater
By Bill Hirschman We believe in the future of theater, especially South Florida theater. This website is an expression of that faith. Certainly, the demise of Florida Stage infected all of us who love theater with a quiet dread. It …
Caldwell Theatre Opens Second Stage at Mizner Park Black Box
Pessimists’ jaws dropped this month when the Caldwell Theatre Company, struggling to whittle away at a hefty mortgage, announced that it was opening Caldwell 2@Mizner.Beginning next month, the Boca Raton troupe will produce an additional season of four plays in the second-floor black box theater inside the Mizner Park Cultural Center.
Instructions for your new email account: oZBxaDmo@floridatheateronstage.com
Dear oZBxaDmo@floridatheateronstage.com, A new email account has been created for you. Hello! Wm. F. Hirschman has created a new email account for you. This email contains login information as well as links to help you set up your new email …